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July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

nytimes.com

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Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#11

FUD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

FUD of what? Generally FUD is used to gain some financial advantage. The only party who has anything to gain from continuing with the economic policies which acerbate climate change are the owners of fossil fuel sources. These constitute billions of dollars of future profit - but only if it's burnt up into the sky. Everyone else is only going to lose in the long term.

If one does not understand anything of climate science, one use the help of political insight to understand the underlying dynamics of the discussion: who has the greatest incentive to lie?

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#15
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignorance of the (irreversible) consequences is sufficient reason to avoid messing with the composition of the atmosphere, no?

"irreversible" {{citation needed}}

Let me help you out by rewriting the sentence you were responding to:

Ignorance of irreversible consequences of messing with the composition of the atmosphere is sufficient reason to avoid doing so, no?

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#17

These maps are based on emission trends continuing, assuming no political action will be taken. But wouldn't a hotter world tend to exacerbate emission trends, with human needs for AC and desalination rising, plus forest fires? Moreover, there might be some tipping point for large scale methane release. The 'tail risk' to global warming has appreciable density a long way out.

> These maps are based on emission trends continuing, assuming no political action will be taken.

I think this is a very realistic assumption.

Global Warming Is Irreversible, Study Says:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9988890...

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#18
post #8

So 14 of the 15 hottest years ever have taken place since 2000. I'm wondering, if this is the result of global heating due to emissions, why do we see so many new record highs only now? The industrial revolution has been going on already for over 150 years. Why were there so few records broken in, say, 1980 - 1996, and so many in 2000 - 2016?

I think you're misunderstanding the arithmetic. Take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumental_temperature_recor...

The Nth "hottest years" are relative to the present day. So in the graph, it looks like 1981 would have been a record hot year - but now it's only the 30th (or whatever) hottest year.

If the graph were a completely smooth upward-sloping line, then you'd expect that 15 of the 15 hottest years would have been since 2000.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#19
I didn't know if it was just because I now have a 2 year old, but New York summers have definitely seemed harder to deal with each year I've lived here.

Is there a commonly accepted minimum temperature difference threshold that is perceivable by humans? E.g., if summer in 2016 was hotter than 2015 by X, I will notice?

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#20
post #8

So 14 of the 15 hottest years ever have taken place since 2000. I'm wondering, if this is the result of global heating due to emissions, why do we see so many new record highs only now? The industrial revolution has been going on already for over 150 years. Why were there so few records broken in, say, 1980 - 1996, and so many in 2000 - 2016?

Essentially, think compound interest, except carbon in the atmosphere. More carbon in the atmosphere causes and uses more carbon to combat this. Everyone using A/C is a good example. Also China and India are industrializing right now, at a scale we can't comprehend.
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